Roller blade skating has become a popular, widely practiced sport. Improvements in engineering and materials have provided roller blade skates which permit skaters to rapidly accelerate to considerable momentum. The only braking facility provided by the skates is a brake pad on a heel of one skate. In order to move the brake pad into frictional engagement with the skating surface, the skater must bend one leg, shift body weight to that leg and thrust the braking leg forward while canting the heel downwards to bring the brake pad into contact with the skating surface. This is an awkward maneurve which is difficult to learn and perform, especially if the skating surface tends to be rough or uneven. Consequently, stopping is difficult and is a factor in the majority of injuries resulting from roller blade skating.
Implements to facilitate stability and improve braking on roller blades have been invented. U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,222 which issued Aug. 17, 1993 to Fletcher describes a roller skate pole device which resembles a ski pole with friction pads affixed to one end. A pair of the poles are intended to be used in a manner similar to ski poles. The disadvantage in poles of this type is that the movements required to roller blade at high speed are not very similar to the movements required for skiing. Furthermore, unless the poles are moved together and dragged behind a skater who assumes a crouched position, the poles provide very little braking capability.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,135 issued to Karabees on May 17, 1994. This patent describes a balance beam having wheels attached to its opposite ends. The balance beam supports a pair of caliper brakes for respectively engaging the wheels and a pair of brake levers of the type generally used for bicycle brake systems. The beam is intended to be carried like a balance beam while skating and placed on the ground for breaking momentum by squeezing a brake lever to retard the rotation of a wheel on the skating surface when stopping is required. The problem with the beam is that it appears to be expensive to manufacture and to maintain. A further problem is that a wheel surface provides very little frictional area for contacting the skating surface to facilitate stopping.